VVZ API is not affiliated with ETH Zurich. Data might be outdated or incorrect. Please view the official ETHZ Vorlesungsverzeichnis for binding information.
Can it Be Permissible to Kill a Few in Order to Save Many?
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:29:06
Abstract
First, the relevant literature on moral justifications in trolley cases will be discussed (Foot, Thomson, Kamm, Otsuka, Kagan). Second, neuropsychological research on trolley cases (Greene, Haidt, Berker, Kamm) and third, applications of such moral reasoning in cases potentially arising in autonomous robots (Rahwan, Nyholm and Smids, Wolkenstein) will be considered.
Objective
Students will gain an overview of the current ethical debates surrounding the legitimacy of homicide-rescue-cases in specific types of situations. They will be enabled to interpret complex texts, identify the argumentation, to reflect it critically and to put it up for discussion.
Content
Killing innocents is generally thought to be morally impermissible – or so it seems from an intuitive point of view. However, there are situations where people can only be saved if less others are killed, for example in some traffic cases, in some cases in natural disasters, medical emergencies, terrorist attacks or humanitarian interventions. In some of these situations our intuitions stay clear and disaproving: it is not permissible to kill, even in order to save many lives, for example, to take the vital organs of one patient in order to save many more other patients. In other scenarios, the intuitions are less clear or even revert for most of us, like in the famous trolley-bystander case, in which a bystander can divert an out-of-control trolley heading towards five to a track where one person is trapped. How are these moral intuitions to be justified, if they are? In this seminar the relevant literature on moral justifications in such trolley cases will be reviewed as well as on methodological problems pertaining to the role of intuitions in moral justifications. Neuropsychological research on such cases as well as critique of the methods and normative presuppositions used in that research will be debated. Finally, attempts to apply such moral reasoning on allegedly analogous cases arising in autonomous robots will be discussed.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- DS , MSC
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise |
Can it Be Permissible to Kill a Few in Order to Save Many?
Lecture: Wed. 16-18
Exercise: Mon. 16-18
|
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
-
Science in Perspective (In “Science in Perspective”-courses students learn to reflect on ETH’s STEM subjects from the perspective of humanities, political and social sciences. Only the courses listed below will be recognized as "Science in Perspective" courses.)
-
Type A: Enhancement of Reflection Competence (SiP courses are recommended for bachelor students after their first-year examination and for all master- or doctoral students. All SiP courses are listed in Type A. Courses listed under Type B are only recommendations for enrollment for specific departments.)
-
-
-